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Posted

No ice is ever safe!

The information is not guaranteed accurate so do not use it when making decisions that may affect your safety!

When you have an update on ice conditions for SE MN, please post here. Please include the date, body of water, location, and current ice conditions. Also include any additional details pertaining to the condition and safeness of the ice.

Ice updates only. No fishing reports or small talk in this thread please.

This thread will be stickied to the top of this forum once we have walkable ice and removed when all ice has been melted for the season.

Thanks to everybody for your ice condition update.

Here is a link to the Minnesota Ice Conditions Map

No ice is ever safe!

The information is not guaranteed accurate so do not use it when making decisions that may affect your safety!

Posted

12/1/07 – 5" on the SE corner of KR7.

Willow Creek has been completely frozen over and is covered with snow, but nobody has ventured out there yet.

I found as much as 3" of ice in the MS River backwaters in areas like West Newton and Wilcox. Pioneer had 2" tops. None of the backwater areas are 100% safe, so use a spud bar.

Posted

Checked out Foster this morning....appears to be either ice or snow covered except for the shoreline of the beach...was wearing tennies so i didnt venture down to check thickness...

Posted

As of 12/3/07 in the afternoon, Bay Point and Colvill Park marinas in Red Wing, Frontenac Pond and the marinas in Lake City are all fully frozen. Lake Pepin appears to be frozen shore to shore above Lake City, but there may have been an open channel in the middle (I couldn't tell for sure from the highway...sky/lighting was playing tricks on my eyes).

I didn't check thicknesses at any of these places, but I did see a guy fishing with tip-ups on Frontenac pond VERY near the south shore on Friday, 11/30. He was sitting in his truck on shore and the tip-ups were about 50 feet out onto the ice.

It's coming! The weather forecast for the next couple weeks looks good for building ice, too. No big deep-freezes, but single digits to 15 degrees at night and below freezing for highs each day.

I just got a new Fish Trap Pro, a new St Croix Premier Ice combo, a new spud and some Genz bugs...saving for a Vexilar, but that may have to wait for next year, or at least 'til February or so.

I'm anxious to get out there and try my luck, so keep the ice reports coming!

Good luck and safe fishing to all!

Posted

Last weekend at chester woods, we took a spud and the ice was about 2.5 in, atleast around the shore

Posted

Thinking of fishing tomorrow morning anybody have any suggestions. My normal early ice place is basically unreachable with all of the snow so I am looking for something else.

Thanks

Posted

Ice recon report - 12/7/07...

There were about 6 guys out on Frontenac Pond and 2 lightweight permanent shacks near the south shore. There were tracks from at least two snowmobiles out there as well, so I'm assuming there's a good 6 to 7 inches of ice out there.

On my way through Lake City I saw a guy on Lake Pepin off Central point. He was back on shore by the the time I got to the parking area on the point. He said there were 4 to 5 inches of ice at each of the 4 holes he chopped with his spud and the ice wasn't even cracking as he walked across it. He was a good 75 yards off shore at the furthest point.

Looks like it's here! The latest forecast I've heard calls for 7 below tonight and good ice-making weather through the weekend.

Good luck and safe fishing!

Posted

Forgot to add to last post that I was in Roch this morning and there were signs of a couple people and a portable shack having been out on Foster-Arends, so the ice is looking good there too, apparently.

Posted

Passed by Willow Creek a couple hours ago and there was a guy drilling a couple holes about 30-40 yards out from the right side of the dock. Kinda surprised me actually. The ice out there has to be goofed up from the geese and weather we've had recently. Needless to say, be careful walking out there.

After that I drove by the DNR entrance to Gamehaven lake. There was a guy walking up the trail heading toward the lake with an auger.

I know this info doesn't help much, but at least we know that some people are hitting the ice around here. I'm giving it another week before trying my luck around Roch.

good luck all.

Posted

Thanks for the info soda, I thought about going to frontenac yesterday, but chose to try a smaller pond, caught a few gills nothing of size again. there was between 5-7" on the smaller pond.

Posted

No problem Scrod...happy to provide some info.

I fished Foster-Arend today for my first time on the ice there, setting up over 11 1/2 FOW in the NE corner about 50 yards from the north shore. I had 4 inches of solid clear ice under me with 1-2" of white ice on top of it. All in all I probably saw 30 people and 12-15 portables out there over the course of the day and the ice seemed nice and solid. No cracking or noise from it at all.

I caught 4 nice rainbows: 17, 15, 15 and 13 inches, and two dink sunnies. Saw many more trout than would bite, and I missed a couple too. Everyone I talked to caught fish, mostly trout and a few largemouths too.

Felt good to get out there and get some action again.

Posted

Was out at Chester Woods today. Fished at the end of the main finger where it opens up. There was 4 inches of ice, I was fishing in 30 feet of water. Not much sign of anyone else being out that far, just some cross country skiing tracks. I was the only one there all morning.

Posted

I fished Frontenac on Sunday (12/9/07) and was on about 5" of hard ice, with some white on top of it. (Got a 24" Northern, 3 bluegills (one keeper at 9") and an 8" perch right before dark.)

There were probably 15 or 20 other guys out there and a couple ATVs. Some normal cracking and noise from the ice, but no problems.

The extended forecast at Accuweather has warmed up some, if it can be trusted of course. It calls for colder weather through this weekend, but then warming to highs in the upper 20s to mid 30s for the next week and a half.

We've got a nice early start to the ice season this year and I hope it keeps up. March is a long way off and there's plenty of long, cold winter left, I just don't want to see the ice we have get weak, which will cause trouble all season long.

Posted

KR7 (Kalmar) had 7.5" of ice last night.

Posted

Willow Creek had 5 inches as of yesterday (Sunday).

Posted

I found nearly 6" on Willow on Sunday.

Posted

Where is KR7 (Kalmar) located and is there good access to it?

Posted

From Hwy 52 take the 19th st exit (AKA Elton Hills Dr). Head West on 19th past the West Fire. Go about 1/2 mile past 60th st and you will see a public access sign with an arrow pointing towards the right. That's the entrance to the KR7 parking lot. The lot is nice, but your looking at a good walk and a hill to get to the water.

Posted

Thanks for the info Tyler. I see your very respondant and accurate with answers. I might give it a try, but I normally don't fish the resivoirs but since they are close I might give a few a try. Hopefully there's more catch and release practiced in them so there's fishing for years to come, because it sounds like they get fished alot. Thanks again for the info!

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Been putting in quite a bit of time on the ice and things are looking pretty good.

Chester Woods had 7" in the first finger, but it looked solid for as far as I could see.

Lake Zumbro has anywhere from 6-10". Some areas have a little slush on top. Wheeler and sled traffic is common. I surly wouldn't drive a vehicle out there yet, but I guess there's been a couple. Personally I think the ice needs another week or two for vehicle traffic.

Posted

There's 11-12" of ice on both Frontenac Pond and Willow Creek now. Someone drove a truck out on Frontenac a week and a half ago already and got away with it.

The ice is building slowly lately but the forecast is calling for a cool down over the next few days, so that should add a couple inches at least.

Happy New Year everyone!

Posted

Had 10.75" on rattlesnake on Lake Zumbro today.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

Any new reports? Willow had at least 16-20 inches on Sunday.

Posted

The Zumbro still has ice, but the challange is to get atop the physical ice structure. I hear people are jumping off docks to the ice. Planks will be required soon the way it sounds.

I saw several people fishing willow this past Sat and Sun. CC Manor pits look OK from the mayo parking lot. I saw somebody out there on Fri. I didn't see any open water next to the shoreline out there.

I hear Foster has open water near the beach, but people are still ice fishing it too.

Posted

I was on Willow on Sunday, thick ice and a my 1st 2 willow crappies. I may be back there tomorrow after work.

Posted

Is the ice still accessable at Willow, or is there open water between land and good ice? Are there any lakes in town that you can't get on because of open water for that matter?

Posted

Many of the lakes around have a dock in place that you can still walk on to get atop the ice. Willow, Chester, Foster, and Fishersman Inn on Lake Zumbro all fit into this category. I don't know how the ice is holding on these bodies of water thou.

Posted

Tyler, or anyone else,

Anybody been to Foster lately, hows the ice conditions? Thinkin about heading out there tomorrow, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Posted

I'd say its not great, but you'll likely have others out there with you. Might have to jump off the dock onto the ice. I've only heard of 3 legs going through, but those were likely in old drilled holes.

I dropped a leg last night on the Zumbro in a hole that musta been 14" and oval shapped. The current and melt is really taking its toll. I suspect were approaching our last week of ice fishing in the Roch area.

Posted

Thanks Tyler, Your right the ice is shakey at best. We got out there today and had good luck, except for 2 of my buddies falling through old holes. Lotsa slush/bad ice.

Thanks again.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      It's kind of sad. The two lakes I loved the most in this state are Mille Lacs and Burntside.  And I think we broke them both!  😕
    • JerkinLips
      Went back to Burntside on Tuesday and I got "skunked again" (LOL).  Looked like the lake was a mess over the weekend, but it was all frozen solid by sunrise Tuesday when I arrived.  The new ice cleats I got worked very well on the glare ice.  Was a beautiful sunny day but cool and quite windy.  I had a nice view of my tip-up from my warm fishhouse but the flag never went up, and I didn't mark a fish while jigging.  May have to try North Arm next, or go back into the BWCAW if the ice conditions improve.
    • JerkinLips
      Yes, eagle swoops are awesome.  Had one happen when I was duck hunting one year in Stuntz Bay.  Stole the only duck I got that day.   Vermilion got very wet over the weekend.  Tower Cafe posted a video of a SxS driving into McKinley Park landing going through water that went over their floor board.  Burntside Lake was frozen nice and solid Tuesday morning when I was there.
    • Wanderer
      Or the other book that said: The bitterness of poor quality outlasts the sweetness of a low price…   Dang, what a mess to have to deal with.
    • leech~~
      When it said. "The foolish man, builds his house upon the sand"? 🫣   Just got back from 10days on the golf of America.  By Panama city Florida.   
    • smurfy
      Venny backstrap and the fixins!
    • SkunkedAgain
      Running on empty at dark on a sled is definitely stress-inducing. Been there, done that. Glad that you made it out.
    • SkunkedAgain
      Eagle swoops are always a hoot to watch.   The snow is mostly gone on the lake. Ice melt made things pretty wet but the ice is obviously still very thick. 
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  The big question:  "How is the ice up at Lake of the Woods?"  That is for each individual resort or outfitter who operates an ice road or trail to answer, but overall, ice conditions are still very good and ice fishing is going strong!  As always, stay on the marked ice  roads and trails for safety.     Being up on the Canadian border, the colder temps Lake of the Woods enjoys vs much of the region combined with three feet of ice makes a big difference.  Fish houses are allowed unattended overnight through March 31st and it sounds like a good number of resorts will be fishing through the month, but ultimately, Mother Nature will determine that.     Regarding the fishing, overall, very good reports for walleyes, saugers and perch.  There is a strong population of smaller walleyes and saugers in the lake which bodes well for the future, but in the meantime, anglers are sorting through them to catch their keepers.   The one-two punch of jigging and deadsticking remains the most effective technique. Jigging spoons with rattles tipped with a minnow head or a lipless crankbait on the jigging line is the ticket.  On the deadstick, a live minnow a foot off the bottom on a plain red hook or medium sized ice fishing jig is catching a lot of fish.   Using electronics is super helpful.  Many nice walleyes are swimming through suspended, keep an eye out.   Anglers tip-up fishing for pike have had a great week and it should continue to get even better.  Suckers, frozen alewife and smelt are working well. Putting baits 1 foot under the ice or right off bottom seems to be effective this week.  Most common depths, 9 - 15 feet. On the Rainy River...  The Rain River is still frozen with no signs of open water yet.  Every year can be different, but on average, the Rainy River will start opening up around the third week of March.  The first boat ramp suitable for larger boats is Nelson Park in Birchdale.  We will keep you posted.    As of March 1st, walleyes and saugers are catch and release only on Four Mile Bay and the Rainy River.     Make plans now for sturgeon season.  Once the open water appears, the fish are super active.  Here are the seasons...   -Catch and Release Season: May 8th – May 15th and October 1 – April 23rd. -Harvest Season: April 24th – May 7th and July 1 – September 30. -Closed Season: May 16th – June 30th.  Up at the Northwest Angle...  Fishing remains very good up at the Angle and the ice is in good shape as well.  As on the south end, resorts monitor ice roads and trails daily and there are still some great ice fishing opportunities available.     Walleyes, saugers, perch, and pike are showing up in good numbers.  Those targeting crappies are reporting good numbers of fish.  Work through a NW Angle resort for ice fishing opportunities on this part of the lake. The walleye and sauger season is open through April 14th. Pike fishing never closes, and perch and crappie remain open year-round as well. Whether booking a day house rental, sleeper fish house, or resort stay, there is still plenty of time to plan a late-season ice fishing adventure. 
    • Wanderer
      Looks like a shallow lake with some potential.  Keepable crappies, decent bluegills and some nice perch according to the last survey (2015). Susan Lake   With a max depth of 10 feet, I’d want to know a little more about it before I’d start drilling holes.  Could be a nice little adventure though.  
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